Nanooks, Falcons tie in Kendall opener

ANCHORAGE - Alaska Fairbanks got two goals from
senior winger Nik Yaremchuk on Friday as the Nanooks tied 3-3 with Air Force in
the opening game of the Kendall Hockey Classic at Sullivan Arena.

While the game goes down officially as a tie, UAF (0-0-1) prevailed 2-1 in a
postgame shootout to help determine the Classic champion, if necessary.

Air Force (0-0-1), the defending Atlantic Hockey champions, erased two deficits
and got the tying goal early in the third period from center Chad Demers.

Trailing 1-0 on Yaremchuk's tally 5:50 into the first period, the Falcons
struck quickly with an unassisted goal by fourth-line center Jason Fabian just 48
seconds later. After UAF's Colton Parayko was called for tripping, Air Force
took advantage with a power-play strike from Adam McKenzie, who scored with
just two seconds remaining on the penalty.

Parayko redeemed himself with an even-strength goal with 1:37 left in the
first, and the teams went into the locker room knotted 2-2.

Junior Jason Torf took over for senior David Bosner in the Air Force crease
after the opening 20 minutes and registered 16 saves on 17 shots. UAF netminder
Sean Cahill, making his first career start, finished with 15 saves while
logging all 65 minutes.

After the defenses took over for the last 18 minutes of regulation and the
duration of overtime, the Nanooks got shootout scores from Colton Beck and Andy
Taranto to claim the potential tourney tiebreaker. Kyle De Laurell scored in
the shootout for Air Force, but Cahill stopped Stephen Carew on the final
attempt to end it.

The Nanooks conclude their Kendall action Saturday at 4:07 p.m. against
Canisius, while the Falcons will take on host Alaska Anchorage in Saturday's
finale at 7:07 p.m.